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The Great Awakening - Romans 1:18; Joel 2:1-2, 11-13, 15-18, 28-32 By Pastor Lee Hemen Oct 30, 2011 AM Today, we will finish our study on prayer by putting into practice what we have learned from God through his Word. Everything we’ve focused on has been in preparation for this evening, when we will gather as one body of believers to pray for the dreams and plans God has for us as a church in the coming weeks, months, and years ahead. Why is this important? It is important because never before has there been a time when our nation and world is in greater need of a Savior. It is a time set apart time for personal and corporate prayer, crying out to God in repentance and fresh surrender for all his purposes and power to break forth upon our church, our city, and our country. Since 1947, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has depicted on its cover what is called the Doomsday Clock. This clock registers how close the world is to nuclear apocalypse by the proximity of the minu...

The Great Awakening - Romans 1:18; Joel 2:1-2, 11-13, 15-18, 28-32 By Pastor Lee Hemen Oct 30, 2011 AM Today, we will finish our study on prayer by putting into practice what we have learned from God through his Word. Everything we’ve focused on has been in preparation for this evening, when we will gather as one body of believers to pray for the dreams and plans God has for us as a church in the coming weeks, months, and years ahead. Why is this important? It is important because never before has there been a time when our nation and world is in greater need of a Savior. It is a time set apart time for personal and corporate prayer, crying out to God in repentance and fresh surrender for all his purposes and power to break forth upon our church, our city, and our country. Since 1947, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has depicted on its cover what is called the Doomsday Clock. This clock registers how close the world is to nuclear apocalypse by the proximity of the minu...

The principles of a powerful prayer meeting, Part 2 By Pastor Lee Hemen’ October 23, 2011 AM Last time, we asked why Elijah, Moses, Joshua, Jesus and Paul were so filled with confidence when praying about the impossible that they often announced that it would take place even before they prayed! How could they be so sure that God would answer their prayers? I believe it was because they had paid the price of being alone with God. They had come to know the very heart and intent of God. They began to see life from his perspective instead of their own. Fervent focused prayer surged through their spiritual souls and it beat with the intense intimacy they shared with the Father. They sought the Lord until they knew what he was doing and joined him in doing it! Therefore, they saw the power of God displayed in response to their prayers. This is the very essence of what Jesus meant by abiding in him, without which we will not know what God’s will is or what to ask him. We find that...

Principles for a Powerful Prayer Meeting, Part 1 - Acts 12:1-11 By Pastor Lee Hemen October 16, 2011 AM There is a plain marker on a neglected grave in a cemetery near the Canadian border that reads, “Daniel Nash, Pastor, Laborer with Finney, Mighty in Prayer.” Who was Nash? He never had the limelight but he shook heaven and hell because he believed in the power of prayer. Charles Finney, a former lawyer turned preacher by the call of God, was one of the key figures during the Second Great Awakening in 19th Century America. In the seven years in which Finney preached, there were an estimated 500,000 conversions. However, if you asked Finney, he would have given the credit for his crusades to Daniel Nash. When Finney went to a city to preach, Nash would arrive several weeks early, rent a room, find other Christians to join him, and start a prayer meeting to pray for souls. He rarely attended but stayed hidden, agonized in prayer for the conviction of the Holy Spirit to melt ...

Hindrances to Effective Prayer - James 4:1-10 By Pastor Lee Hemen October 9, 2011 AM We can let the littlest things in life frustrate us. A red light that doesn’t turn green fast enough, a slow checkout line, or just a bad mood! Have you ever tried praying at those times? I have. It is hard for me to do. I guess it is because my heart and thoughts are not in the right place! There are hindrances in life, aren’t there? Sometimes these hindrances keep us from the full and richness of a personal relationship with the Lord in prayer. It can be a bad attitude, hurt feelings, not getting our way, ungodly behavior or several other things that hinder our time alone with God. God desires and wants to spend time alone with us in prayer. If progress in the Christian life depends upon our prayer, if we are commanded to pray, if promises on a cosmic scale are made to those who pray--what would a waiting Heavenly Father think if we refused to pray? James introduces for us this morning th...

The power that unleashes God’s will! - Revelation 8:1-5 By Pastor Lee Hemen October 2, 2011 AM John Franklin, in his book “And the Place Was Shaken”, recounts a time in 1990 when he joined about 250 people in a two-week evangelistic crusade in Mombasa, Kenya. They were divided into teams of three, each team going hut-to-hut and house-to-house, presenting the Gospel. Franklin said he was in awe. “A few times in my life I have been in a service or prayer meeting where the manifest presence of God could be felt but never before in a whole city. Wherever we walked, the presence of the Lord tangibly permeated the land, so much so that often people were saved by the dozens.” His team was walking down a dirt road that led to the next village. Three Kenyan men were seated on stools by the roadside. One inquired, “Excuse me are you from America?” Franklin replied, “Yes.” “Are you one of the ones who has come here to tell us the word of God?” “Yes,” he answered. The man responded, “W...

The precedence of praying together - Acts 6:1-5 By Pastor Lee Hemen September 25, 2011 AM The church today is a mere spiritual shadow of its former self. The reason I believe is because it has forgotten the importance of praying together. This issue is extremely important for three reasons: 1) Praying together as a church is crucial for a spiritually healthy church. 2) Praying together is a vital for God’s presence to work among his people. In addition, 3) the tendency among believers is to think of prayer gatherings as the extra-curricular activity in the life of the church, something that can be ignored. It’s good for other people to do, but not important enough for me to join. There are a growing number of believers, who view cooperative prayer as optional, secondary, and unimportant. We do not find this to be true in Scripture nor in the history of the church. God has sovereignly ordained his church to pray together so that his presence is manifested and his purposes ar...

Love one another - Mark 12:28-34; Luke 6:27-31; John 13:34-35 By Pastor Lee Hemen September 18, 2011 AM Wasn’t it Tina Turner who sang, “What’s Love Got to Do with It?” I am not certain about the full meaning of that lyric, nor does it necessarily pique my interest. One thing is sure, she is not singing about Christian love! Jesus repeatedly admonishes his followers to love God totally, to love each other unconditionally, and to love one another. Love has everything to do with the Christian life. Unselfish, unashamed and unrestrained love is the essence of kingdom faithfulness. The Apostle John understood this and wrote, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. (1 John 4:8-9 NIV) Without love, everything else the believer does is of little significance or value. Today’s message will be a clear reminder of love’s priority in our faith. R...